Thursday, 28 February 2013

Here's a great track, Physycal Therapy remixing the Peepholes song Pinnacles, turning it into a spaced out minimal grooving dubbed out wonder. The original is blinding enough as it is but this remix takes the band in a whole other direction. Both versions are below. which do you prefer?

Wednesday, 27 February 2013

KVLT by KVLT is a fantastic ambient album, 5 tracks of pure perfect minimalised crystal sound, majestic piano inflections and glacial droning dirged out atmospherics to die for. Beautiful like a National Geographic photo of a crocus pushing through newborn snow that has been scruffed up and lost down the back of a dusty Victorian cabinet.

Brandon White of Cuss Words is more prolific than anyone at the moment and the brilliant thing is he can write a great tune. This is classic guitar led psychedelic garage rock with tinges of country and folk in there too. Each and every track feels timeless and classic, the inflection of of vocals and guitar, the riffs, the production, the hooks its all beyond anything that's needed from simple self released records. This new album (14 tracks long) is under the title of "Brandon White's Cuss Words" and you can buy it/download it from Bandcamp for $8.

Tuesday, 26 February 2013

The duo that is Feature make a great fuzzed out garage sound that is more about harmonies, tone, energy and bass heavy scrunching guitar sounds than it is about flat out garage surf tunes. This is textural and complex, garage extremists if you will similar to The Sticks if The Sticks had singing as a focus point. Feature crash and sway through tracks, it should be minimal but like other great guitar/drum duos like The White Stripes or such, they turn their two piece into something larger than themselves. This EP called Memory came out in October last year.

Mexico Citys DJ Smurphy makes a sound that could be described with genres like hip hop, juke, trance-hall, gothic seapunk, anything like that. lol. But anyway its way good and even though one track reminds me of late era Prodigy that's a good thing rather than a negative. There's a lot of space and echo which brings to mind Zombelles EP which is a great evocation. Download the EP "Smurphwave" for free or 'name your price' from Bandcamp.

Monday, 25 February 2013

There's a nice description of the process of making this video: "The main idea was to throw pictures to the sound in a somehow synaesthetic way; five individuals, different as they are, "wrote" the script for it, without any ambition to actually tell a story in the classical way. Listening to the song, we asked ourselves some questions: What colour does that sound have? What pictures come to my mind? What situation would make that sound complete in a certain way? We collected items we associated with it, food that tastes like it, memories, thoughts, scents, feelings, and threw it all together. The result of that very interesting experiment surprised us in the way it reflects certain fragments of ourselves and how the visual and the sound together build a vibrant, living surreal universe."

The Hollow Press label has put out a great 32 track remix compilation which you can download for free from their Bandcamp. Check out their info about it:"Friends of Hollow Press have contributed 32 incredible remixes on this free Bandcamp release. This compilation acts as a project from which artists can connect with other artists, and collaborate with creative minds from around the world.
Included with this download is a PDF which features website links (Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Facebook) to all of the artists featured on this collection. With these links you can find out more about them, purchase their music, or even contact them for a collaboration.
To everyone involved, I thank you immensely for your time and love."Its a really good label with some awesome artists on its roster and this album is a great little endeavour. Definitely worth a listen.

It came out a month ago but there's been no fanfare so I'm here to inform you of how good this debut album "Touch" by Stendek is. It's brilliant. Amazing production, beautiful sounds, epic scales, wondrous tracks. Killer electronical ambient slow rave magic. It's available to buy from his Bandcamp here. Well worth it. Stendek is an audio -visual project from Poland and one of my favourite finds of last year, with his single and accompanying video for the track Touch being one of the best things of last year. Big things, big things!

Sunday, 24 February 2013

Sunday afternoon 2013 Breakcore anyone? But wait hey come back its really good this time, intense blind driving drum'n bass, totaly over drawn and raging but with some great atmospherics throughout so its not just balls out head ache inducing grind.Artists are Goreshit and Vaenus and the record is on Hakai Suru Recordings available to downlaod for free on their Bandcamp.

Saturday, 23 February 2013

'Riot Grrl' 7 inch by Keel Her released by Critical Heights and re-recorded especially for the occasion by Tye Die Tapes. "Witness KEEL HER come out of the bedroom and into the studio with two slices of fuzz-pop gold, including b-side 'You Would Be So Grossed Out If I Did That" Go buy at Critical Heights here.Ace garage pop perfectly designed for a 7 inch single, mentions of summer and gratuitous swearing abound and you can sing along like its an anthem or something.

New Ana Caprix tracks and mini mix, sleazy post RnB mixed with epic slo-mo trash dance. Quality on new levels. Smooth and brutal at the same time like being drowned in Tango Still. Free downloads at Soundcloud. Also check out the Ana Caprix tumblr.

Friday, 22 February 2013

It starts so slow you'll think your speakers aren't working but then it gets going and grinds and howls its way into the room, slow, spiralling and ancient. Caustic ambient drone for late winter afternoons. This is a two part single collaboration between two artists, Fake Blood Universe and Apollo Vermouth and its called Blackwash. Download for free at Bandcamp here.

Here's a great new Fifty Grand track - Lex Talioni$. Whispered vocal threats and a brilliant dirty little beat and groove all the way through. Quality sexy slow dance track. Download for free from the Soundcloud player below.

Horror Vacui make gothic, post punk, new wave Italian death punk and hail from from Bolgna. They wear all black and rock out. The three tracks online are really really good. They've jut been touring France and Spain. That is all.

Arbee is from Quebec and creates truly ambient soundscapes, quiet, minimal and considered. Sometimes a loose beat filters its way into a track but often its a world of spaced beauty and free floating noise. Check out this artists Bandcamp for a huge range of quality records to download.

Sunday, 17 February 2013

Entertainment are a great new band from London with an insanely catchy guitar led sound that hauls up thoughts of all types of influences from late era Brit Pop bands, all the way to the more melodic moments from post rock giants ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and back again. Check out this new track Moving In The Right Way produced by the sonically uber gifted Rory Attwell. You can download this track for free from their Soundcloud.

Vagina Vangi were Russian a band that appeared around the same time as Witch House arose, they made some amazing tunes then disappeared off the radar a bit. Well if you want here are their two EPs from 2010 and 2011 - now up on Bandcamp. A mix of Witch House, Electro, Nu Metal and chart dubstep, very very epic sounding, and really good. They should be releasing a new record soon.

This is good, really good, straight out and out Shoegaze by a band called Mansion, a London duo. Both songs on their Soundcloud are available to download for free. go check out their Facebook page too.

I swear to you the artwork for this track above is a magic eye picture and if you stare long enough you see a sail boat, go on try and see it! This is a new track by Fire Coral, a synth throbbing little jerker of a number that bounce along. Go quick and download it for free from soundcloud now!

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

"Constellation Jodorowsky" is an intimate documentary on the life of one of the greatest artists of our time, Alejandro Jodorowsky. This is not a typical biopic, but rather a self-analysis by the artist, who also has testimonials from Fernando Arrabal, Peter Gabriel, Marcel Marceau and Jean Giraud, among others. A film about film, spirituality, comics, music, mime and tarot. Considered as the best audiovisual introduction to the life and work of this visionary master.

Aural Sects is a net label releasing a never ending stream of high quality releases, its almost to hard to keep up with all their content, this album "Virescit Vulnere Virtus" is from a brilliant progressive/ambient-Black Metal band called Wolcnum. Six tracks of killer atmospherics, epic wall of sound grinding synths and doom laden vocals. Download it for free from Bandcamp now.

I miss Witch House, it was fun being part of a exciting online community creating great music, concepts and imagery. Maybe that's why I like this new track by South African artist Boolz. Quality dirge and drone, echo, fuzz, creepy sound effects and trashed beats.

Albums are designed to keep you down, to keep you at home listening quietly for an hour or so, albums are an opium kosh. Singles are a line of speed, they are about the now, they hit you up with instant engagement, no singles have to "grow on you", they are for going out, on the move, songs for action and life. Singles are revolutionary, albums are the the prison you need to break out of... Eps on the other hand are little manifestos for life.Thanks to Bill Drummond's recent critique of Classic Albums for these ideas.With All this in mind here is a great all girl punk band with influences from Riot Grrrl and Grunge and all manner of immediate vital sounds. The band are Skinny Girl Diet, they're from London and they play fast and just about keep up. It slays. Download what you want from their Soundcloud. Support you local girl gang.

This is a split EP on the Chapel Yard label out of Yorkshire featuring the bands Paper Dollhouse and Raining Leaf. Atmospheric ambient drone and loose experimental noise. Quiet and beautiful at times and a good remedy from worrying you're not doing enough, stop, listen and envelope the sound. Download for free from Bandcamp.

Philadelphia's Skeleton Lipstick have released their début 10-track album 'Glows Then Melts' available to download from Airline Tapes Bandcamp. An album of 80's horror sounds merged with summer haze and synth warmed sunshine. Slow fuzzed out downtempo with glimmering electro moments.